# Steal this setup: the Engine Room

One designated chat for machine output, a registry with class, delivery home, and sunset for every standing job, and a weekly drift digest.

From the [Templates & checklists](../index.md#templates) section of [The Muse Field Guide](../index.md).

## What it is

The routing layer that keeps proactivity livable: routine machine output has a home that is not your main conversation, and every standing job is registered before the machinery grows past memory.

## Parts list

- One designated chat for routine machine output.
- A registry: purpose, class, delivery home, escalation bar, sunset or review date, per job.
- A weekly digest that reports drift, expiries, and escalations.
- A starter rule set for what may escalate, and when.

## Steps

1. Put routine output in one designated chat.
2. Register every standing job before you create the second one.
3. Give temporary watches a deadline and let them delete themselves.
4. Define expected states, including intentional downtime.
5. Escalate only when a job crosses a bar you wrote in advance.
6. Bind factual claims in generated summaries to source records.
7. Review the registry weekly and retire anything nobody can explain.

## Where this came from

Start smaller than this household did: 93 scheduled jobs is where you end up, not where you begin. The starter rule set below is the on-ramp.

Related resources: [The Engine Room: one chat for noise](the-engine-room.md), [The Engine Room registry template](engine-room-registry-checklist.md)

Canonical page: https://www.niclydon.io/muse/items/engine-room-starter.html